First we had the Belarusian military receiving a batch of BTR-82A and BTR-80K armored personnel carriers (APVs) from Russia, as well as BREM-K recovery vehicles (which are based on the BTR-80).
It should be noted that in recent months the cooperative exercises between the armies of the two countries have increased and as a result the concerns of the Ukrainians have returned.
In a new, more disturbing move, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus officially announced that it has taken delivery of R-500 Iskander ballistic missiles with an estimated range of over 2,000 km.
Thanks to Belarus, which decided to show off the new weapons that Minsk had received from the Russian Federation, the exact version of the transferred Russian operational-tactical complexes Iskander is revealed.
Violation of two fundamental international agreements
By sending the R-500 Iskander missiles, Ukraine claims that two fundamental international agreements are being violated at the same time.
This missile significantly exceeds the range of 300 km, which is a violation of the missile technology control regime. According to it, countries (including Russia) pledged not to sell, transfer or help create missiles with a flight range of more than 300 km.
Ruslan Chekhov, head of the Missile Forces and Artillery Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, said that Belarus received longer-range missiles.
"The Republic of Belarus has a sufficient supply of missiles for the (Iskander) complex, which will allow any strike to be carried out at a distance of up to 500 kilometers. Among the available means for the missile artillery of the Armed Forces of Belarus, there was a lack of such a complex capable of performing tasks at a range of more than 300 kilometers," said Ruslan Chekhov.
According to a foreign media outlet, the Ministry of Defense of Belarus was silent about the actual range of the R-500 missile. This cruise missile, also known as 9М729 or 9М728, "has already caused the collapse of another security agreement: the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the US and the USSR in 2019," it says.
We remind you that the R-500 is based on the Soviet KS-122 missile (also known as the S-10 Granat), which was used for the RK-55 Reliyef ground-based complex before the collapse of the USSR. All of these land-launched missiles were destroyed in 1989 under the INF Treaty. But with Putin coming to power, this project was resurrected and the Kalibr and R-500 began to be developed.
It should also be noted that the range of the R-500 remains debatable, in particular, in Russia it was previously claimed to be 500 km, while a similar Kalibr had a range of more than 2 thousand km, and for the KS-122 this number was 2 .5 thousand kilometers.
"Wagner" advances east of Bahamut
Despite the fierce resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Wagner PMC mercenaries managed to make a serious advance east of Bakhmut.
Wagner PMC units gradually push back the Ukrainian army in the private sector area east of Bakhmut. It is known that the attack detachments of Russian mercenaries managed to advance towards the city center, taking control of one of the streets and gaining a foothold, which indicates a slow but fairly certain displacement of Ukrainian forces from the city.
At this time, it is known that the Wagner PMC units are already located less than one and a half kilometers from the center of Bahamut. The most active movement is recorded from the eastern direction, while, given the resulting gray zone, Ukrainian troops actually control only the western part of the city, although a few weeks ago the situation was completely different.
At this time, units of PMC Wagner are also making efforts to encircle Bahamut. The fighting is taking place in the area of the settlement of Krasnaya Gora, taking control of which, it will be possible to achieve an advance in the northern direction, which in turn will give the opportunity to block large forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and foreign mercenaries.
